How to Fly
by Obla Di
Summary: How pathetic is a pegasus that can't fly? When it's revealed that Scootaloo still hasn't learned how to fly, she has to learn quick or she'll be shipped off to Cloudsdale. What will happen when dream lessons with her idol Rainbow Dash become a nightmare?
1. Chapter 1

How to Fly

It was just another late summer day on Sweet Apple Acres. The sun was shining down, or beating down really, and the tree branches were beginning to slump under the weight of their harvest. Lazy sounds of pigs slopping and chickens scratching met the harsh industrious noises of a young, yellow-coated mare hard at work in the shade of the barn.

Apple Bloom set down the saw once she finished severing the rough edge of a head post. She leaned it against the side of the barn along with the other parts and wiped a sheen of sweat from her brow, content to look down on her handiwork. Most ponies would see just a collection of rough wooden shapes, but Applebloom saw a dazzling crib painted with the colors of the fields and the sky full of sun, moon, and stars.

"Woooeee!" Apple Bloom hooted, trotting over to the nearby troth to grab a sip of water. She smiled briefly at the sweaty pony smiling back at her from the water's shallow depths, her red mane tied back in a stretch of lace the way Applejack liked to do it, before breaking the reflection apart into a million tiny shimmers as she drank. Applejack and Big Macintosh had gone to market, leaving Apple Bloom to watch over the farm, and she had decided to take the time to work on a little something; they'd been using the same rickety old crib since Big Macintosh was born, and she was afraid the thing was ready to start claiming victims.

Apple Bloom thought she was ready to get back to it when she was hit by a spinning head rush. She plopped down and pressed her hooves into the cool dirt while the wave of disorientation and nausea passed. "This is nothing," she reassured herself, "just a little flustered by the heat and the sudden rush of cold water is all." She smiled a bit; the little bucker growing inside her probably had something to do with it as well.

Apple Bloom was just about ready to get up and back to work when she noticed in the distance a cloaked figure walking up the path to the farm, blazing white against the organic colors of the surrounding orchards. Now who could that be? She wasn't expecting anypony until AJ and Big Mac returned that afternoon. Apple Bloom took a second to make sure her feet were going to stay steady under her before taking off to meet the visitor.

Apple Bloom intercepted the hooded intruder at the arched gate into the farm. The figure's appearance surrendered little indication as to who she was, but Apple Bloom could infer a few things. Though she could not see her downturned face for the hood she wore, Apple Bloom could still make out the slender form of a mare behind the white fabric. A pegasus too, she thought; The color and minimalist design of the cloak, unblemished but for the angular blue lines at the hem, was in vogue in Cloudsdale, or so she seemed to remember Rarity mentioning.

"Howdy stranger," Apple Bloom said, remaining polite while still firmly barring the newcomer from coming any further. "What can ah do you for?" The visitor tossed back her hood to reveal piercing and familiar purple eyes.

Apple Bloom gasped. "Scoot, is that you?" she asked, because honestly she wasn't sure if it was. The Scootaloo she remembered had been a rambunctious little thing with a messy mane and a mischievous expression that exemplified childhood, a face you couldn't imagine growing up. This slender creature before her had a countenance that appeared solemn and reserved, the kind of face worn by statues and stained glass. She might have had the orange coat and purple mane, but otherwise she could not have looked more different.

The Scootaloo doppelganger smiled softly. "Hey Apple Bloom," she said, and even though some of its tomboyish edge had been smoothed by age, Apple Bloom could still recognize her old friend's voice.

Apple Bloom leapt forward and hugged her. "It really is you!" Apple Bloom cried right into the ear of her long lost friend. Scootaloo grimaced and blushed at the open display of affection; that much about her hadn't changed at least.

"Ah haven't seen you since you left for Cloudsdale," Apple Bloom said, finally releasing Scootaloo. "Great galloping griffins, how many years has it been?"

"Twelve." Scootaloo said it as a cold statement of fact. "Twelve years last spring."

"Geez," Apple Bloom sighed. "Well come in, come in." she began to move aside for Scoot, but then quickly stepped back in her way. She looked her up and down suspiciously. "Hold up, long lost friend, eerie white robes. You ain't some kind of ghost are you, because I really can't afford any hauntings right now."

Scootaloo laughed in her new voice. "Luckily I've already passed the hug test," she said. "I'm as solid as you."

Apple Bloom checked her forelegs to make sure there wasn't any ectoplasm or some such on them. "That you have. Well come on!" Apple Bloom turned and began trotting down the path to the farmhouse with Scootaloo trailing behind her. She chattered the entire way, mostly reiterating what a shock it was to see her again after so long. Scootaloo silently nodded.

"So what brings you back after all these years?" Apple Bloom asked.

Scootaloo didn't answer immediately. "I've got a little unfinished business."

"Well ah hope it's the kind of business that takes a good long time to wrap up. Luna and Celestia, has it been awhile." Upon reaching the farmhouse, Apple Bloom threw open the door and led Scootaloo into the kitchen. The shrine dedicated to the sacred arts of cooking and eating had remained pretty much the same since Scootaloo visited last time, the fancy china watching from their special cupboard, the old smoke belching oven squatting against the wall. Apple Bloom sat her friend down at the checkered kitchen table, and went to grab the half pie sitting at the windowsill. She brought it over with a knife and began cutting slices for her and her friend.

"Ah thought once Granny Smith passed away that the secret to the perfect apple pie went with her, but you know what?" Apple Bloom offered a slice to Scootaloo before taking a large bite out of her own, "Ah fink Applefack migft be mofvin to topf her," she mumbled, chewing loudly.

Scootaloo looked to the slice of pie laid before her and back to Apple Bloom. "I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother," she said.

Apple Bloom swallowed and said, "Aw don't you worry none, it was just her time is all. Ah wish I could say she went peacefully, but she seemed determined not to go without giving death a good kick in the face to remember her by."

Scootaloo took a few courteous nibbles while Apple Bloom scarfed down the rest of her slice. Just as Apple Bloom moved to grab the knife and cut herself another piece, a slimy spotted bog frog went careening through the air, landing cleanly on the remaining quarter of the pie.

Grinning through the kitchen window was a young colt with an amber mane obscuring his eyes. "Bad Apple!" Apple Bloom screeched around the knife clenched in her teeth. He was off like a flash after that, leaving a trail of dust kicked up behind him. Apple Bloom went to the window and shouted after him "That's right, you better run! When ah tell your mom about this, she's gonna have you applebuckin until your flank falls off!"

Apple Bloom's anger at her nephew couldn't hold for long however. "Sorry about that," she said, chuckling as she returned to the table. "Applejack was just asking for trouble when she named him that. Luckily, he'll have a cousin soon enough to keep him occupied," Apple Bloom said, rubbing at her swelling belly. She stared at the big eyed green bog frog, and more importantly, to the remaining pie on which it perched. "Shoot, a little frog slime never killed nopony," she said, tossing the amphibian out the window and picking up the knife.

The entire episode had left the new Scootaloo smirking just the smallest bit like the old one. "Oh you never know, he might have gotten one of those poisonous frogs from the Everfree forest," she said, taking a real bite out of her own uncontaminated slice.

Apple Bloom stared at her. "Ah'll take my chances," she said, cutting another slice.

"So, how far along are you?" Scootaloo asked.

"Pretty far," Apple Bloom said. "Ah'm due in a few months."

"Who's the, uh…"

"The daddy?" Apple Bloom asked. "You don't know him; he's not a bad pony though. He's off touring with Sweetie Belle right now; I actually met him through one of her rehearsals. Ah didn't like him at first, but ah guess he grew on me."

Scootaloo stared blankly. "Oh that's right, you haven't heard," Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Well, ah hate to spoil it for ya Scootaloo, you really should hear her for yourself, but Sweetie Belle discovered her special talent was in singing and songwriting. She started getting really into writing musicals for the school, and one day a note crossed by a pen appeared on her flank. Now she's off on her first real tour of Equestria, singing the lead in a musical, sorry, in an _opera_ she wrote," Apple Bloom said, stressing the formality on the word. "It's too bad you didn't come a little earlier, you could have heard them practicing. They sound good."

"An opera huh?" Scootaloo said, "Is it any better than that disaster we put on for the talent show?"

Apple Bloom giggled. "Funny you should ask. See, even after Sweetie got her cutie mark, she still had it in her head that she wanted to be like her big sister. Well, Rarity never needs help making her dresses, so Sweetie decided she shouldn't need help with writing her music…or with making her costumes, or with building her props. Rarity and I tried to assist where we could, but she would have none of it. She was meaner than a diamond dog and breathing more fire than a dragon when rehearsing for her first real opera. She was like a little Rarity, and ah don't think the big one found it a flattering picture."

"Anyway, opening night comes, and you'd be in the middle of a really intense scene, and you couldn't help but giggle at the lopsided dresses, or it'd be a dark and quiet moment when a light would come crashing down," Apple Bloom recounted, "Ah think what finally made her see reason was during the climactic balcony scene when the balcony collapsed. She started asking Rarity and me for help from then on."

Apple Bloom sighed contently at the memory. Scootaloo smiled sympathetically with her friend. "Speaking of talents," Apple Bloom said, wheeling around to show off her rump. There was a picture of two wooden planks and a saw on her flank. "This little beauty appeared a few months after you left."

"Wood," Scootaloo observed.

"Apple wood," Apple Bloom said proudly. "Ah know carpentry is kind of a boring talent, but somepony needs to build the houses and the furniture and stuff. It sure ain't as fancy as Sweetie Belle's though, and nowhere as cool as whatever your special talent turned out to be, ah'm sure." Apple Bloom stared at the former cutie mark crusader expectantly.

Scootaloo set aside the hard crust that remained of her pie and shifted in her seat. "Look, Apple Bloom, not that I don't like catching up and all, but I came here for a reason."

Apple Bloom's ears fell flat on her head. "Oh, ah'm sorry chit-chattering on like that sugar cube, go on."

"I hear you can find Rainbow Dash in town around this time of year," Scootaloo said, "I was wondering if you knew where she is."

"As a matter of fact I do, sort of," said Apple Bloom, "See, over time some of Applejack's friends started to drift away. Rainbow Dash joined the Wonderbolts as ah'm sure you know, Twilight is back studying with the princess, and Rarity decided to set up shop in Canterlot. In order to keep from falling out, they all agreed they would meet and hang out here on the farm for a few weeks every year, and today is the day they all get together. Dash should be showing up here some time tonight."

"Great," said Scootaloo, though she didn't sound that excited about it. "Would you mind if I waited here until then?"

"Ah was hoping you would," said Apple Bloom, "Not often you get to catch up with old friends, and ah'm sure you've got plenty to tell me about your days in Cloudsdale." Apple Bloom began to make a move on the final slice of pie. Maybe it was just the pregnancy that was messing with her senses again, but that last piece had seemed particularly tasty. Could it have been frog slime that was the secret to Granny Smith's perfect apple pies? "So why do you want to see Dash anyway?"

"I'm going to challenge her to a race," Scootaloo said simply, "and beat her so hard that it makes her pride bleed."

Apple Bloom spat up a slice of red delicious she had started choking on. "You're kidding right."

Scootaloo wasn't laughing. "I've never been more serious about anything in my life."

Applebloom stared at her slender friend. She thought maybe she was just being competitive, but it didn't sound that way. It sounded mean. Apple Bloom coughed out an awkward laugh. "You didn't even know how to fly back when ah knew you. Cloudsdale must have really made you fall in love with it now that you want to measure yourself against Equestria's best flier," she said.

Scootaloo didn't affirm or deny it. "All I know is that flying is what Rainbow Dash does, so that's what I have to beat her at."

Applebloom felt a cold breeze despite the swelter of the summer noon. This, she sensed, was at the heart of what was so different about this new Scootaloo, what had turned a young playful filly into this quiet and somber pegasus. "Scoot, this isn't like you. You used to worship Rainbow Dash, what happened?"

"It's a long story."

"Until Rainbow Dash gets here, what have you got but time?" Applebloom asked.

Scootaloo sighed. "Do you remember family appreciation day back in Cheerilee's class?" Applebloom nodded. "Well it all started one day in the middle of spring..."


	2. Chapter 2

How to Fly

Chapter 2

Scootaloo sat petrified at her desk in Ponyville elementary, counting away the heavy seconds one by one. Miss Cheerilee was lecturing about some old story about a stallion that loved a mare, whose love got them both killed. Scootaloo could not begin to describe the depths of passionate loathing she felt for these two saps. If they had the wits to stop yammering on and on about their love for a few seconds, they could maybe try running away from the ponies who were trying to kill them. But no, it was just talking, and more talking, and Scootaloo had to listen to every boring word of it!

"And in this next passage, Poneo reiterates his avowal of love," Cheerilee said. "Now I know that this sounds similar to his monologue a few pages back, but his vow holds a different significance here because…" Scootaloo kept counting the seconds, if only to keep herself from dozing off. Fifteen minutes, only fifteen minutes until freedom.

It didn't help that she had plans with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom at Sugarcube Corner later. The trio would discuss their next batch of hijinks to try and earn their cutie marks over chocolate fudge sundaes. Scootaloo had some awesome ideas she was dying to share. She had hoped to wait until after school, but she couldn't resist any longer. She HAD to tell somepony.

"Psst, hey Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo leaned her head back and whispered when Cheerilee's back was turned. The unicorn filly looked up (or down as it were, from Scootaloo's perspective) from her fastidious note taking. "What do you think about CMC sword jugglers?"

"Huh?" Sweetie Belle asked, her voice muffled by the pencil held aloft in her mouth. She stared at Scootaloo blankly for a few seconds before her ears pricked up at something Cheerilee said. "Not right now Scootaloo, I'm trying to pay attention."

Scootaloo sighed and returned to sitting straight. Leave it to Sweetie Belle to actually like this namby pamby stuff. Scootaloo tried to return to counting down the time until class let out, but it felt like the seconds were getting longer. A gentle breeze kept wafting in through the open window, carrying with it smells of young grass and rich mud, smells that are synonymous with sport and play in the mind of any young filly. Outside was a sunlit world, bright and vibrant and full of color, all of it just waiting for her.

She surveyed the classroom and spotted Apple Bloom out from her other classmates, red bow drooping and head cradled on her hooves. Apple Bloom caught Scootaloo staring at her and looked over with bored lidded eyes. Scootaloo hung her head to one side, crisscrossed her eyes, and stuck her tongue out. Apple Bloom giggled, and in response clenched her teeth ghoulishly and rolled her eyes up until only the whites showed.

Cheerilee turned in time to catch her students' various impressions of death by literature. She looked angry for just a moment, but then chuckled herself. "It looks like you girls have read ahead to the death scenes. I suppose that means we can let out a little earlier today. Class dismissed!" sweeter words have never passed from a teacher's lips. The young ponies of Cheerilee's class exploded from their desks in a flurry of motion, gathering their things and chattering with their friends.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders quickly gathered around Sweetie Belle's desk. Scootaloo bounced from hoof to hoof as Sweetie Belle finished packing up her things, and Apple Bloom walked over. "You guys won't believe all the cool ideas I have for today," Scootaloo said. "Apple Bloom, what do you think about a cannon on your flank?"

Apple Bloom looked at her cockeyed.

Scootaloo continued on regardless. "And Sweetie Belle, I bet some green crocodiles would show up really nice against your white coat!"

Sweetie Belle sighed as she clicked shut the snaps of her saddlebags and strapped them to her back. "I really hope the prince will show mercy on poor Poneo."

Scootaloo gagged in disgust. "Class is out and you're still thinking about that junk? What's wrong with you Sweetie Belle?"

"Nothing's wrong with me! It's a beautiful love story," Sweetie Belle voiced in protest. The three began to walk together towards the door. "You're just a…a…what's that word Rarity uses?"

"Hold on," Cheerilee called while Sweetie Belle pondered. The three stopped. "Scootaloo, could I please have a word with you?"

"Am I in trouble?" Scootaloo asked.

"Oh, nothing like that," Cheerilee said. "We just need to talk about next family appreciation day."

"Oh," Scootaloo mumbled. She spoke to her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders. "You guys go ahead without me, I'll catch up."

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle nodded and headed out the door. "See you at Sugarcube Corner!" Apple Bloom called.

After the girls had left, Cheerilee took to her hind legs and began erasing the day's lessons from the blackboard. She attacked with a big black eraser to each hoof and sent up big clouds of fine dust particles dancing through the air on skewers of light. "Well Scootaloo, it looks like you're the last student in class to present for family appreciation day. I know your parents have had scheduling problems making it in on Monday, so I was thinking we could try next Wednesday instead, would that be convenient?"

"Oh, uh…" Scootaloo mumbled, pawing at the ground. "I don't think so Miss Cheerilee. You know how busy my parents are, important Canterlot weather ponies and all. And right now, they're working really hard to make the transition from spring to summer. Wednesday won't work, and honestly, I don't think they'll find any time to come in before school lets out."

Cheerilee just continued to work at the cleaning the white scribbles from the board, her purple mane and coat turning progressively lighter from the accruement of chalk dust. It was beginning to make Scootaloo's nose itch. "Well I'm sorry to hear that Scootaloo, I guess we'll just have to hope they can find a spare hour in their busy schedules."

"Ya," Scootaloo said, beginning to trot towards the open door. "Hopefully."

"Are you sure they won't be able to present on Wednesday? I mean, I know they'll have to be in Ponyville anyway that day."

Scootaloo stopped dead in her tracks. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, haven't they told you dear? I'm sure they got the letter in the mail. Next Wednesday, the flight examiners from Cloudsdale come to town. You and a parent are required to meet them by law."

The clouds of chalk dust in the air combined with the afternoon heat started to irritate Scootaloo. Her throat began to tighten and make her wheeze, and chalk infused sweat began to sting her eyes. She could feel her stomach beginning to nervously toss. She had to get out.

"I guess they just forgot to mention it,"

With the blackboard now clean, the whitened Cheerilee set down the erasers and walked over. "You aren't worried are you dear?" she asked. "They aren't going to grade you or anything, they're just there to make sure you're getting proper flight training."

Scootaloo shook her head no and began to back towards the door. Her vision was beginning to swim on the edges, and her muscles were growing tight. "I'm fine," she coughed. "I guess I'll ask if they'll be able to make family appreciation day while they're in town on Wednesday, but I wouldn't count on it. Bye Ms. Cheerilee."

…

The chirping ring of the bell announcing Scootaloo's entrance into Sugarcube corner was immediately followed by a sound of even higher pitch.

"Philistine!" Sweetie Belle squealed, pointing an accusing hoof in Scootaloo's direction.

"Uh, what?" Scootaloo grinned confusedly as she came over to the table where Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were sitting. She plopped down her bags and took a seat.

"Philistine, that's what you are," Sweetie Belle said, smiling contentedly. "Someone who doesn't appreciate art or beauty. It's what my sister calls people who criticize her dresses."

"She's been shouting that at everypony who has walked in since we got here expecting it to be you," Apple Bloom said.

"I told you third time was the charm Apple Bloom, and it was so worth it," Sweetie Belle beamed.

"That story is still stupid Sweetie Belle."

"Philistine!"

The three laughed. The sweet smells of Sugarcube Corner and the company of her friends helped relieve Scootaloo of the last of that nervous sick feeling she had gotten while talking to Cheerilee.

"Three chocolate fudge sundaes!" Mrs. Cake said as she came out of the kitchen, a tray with their ice cream balanced on her back. The sundaes looked delicious, big vanilla scoops getting all melty on the edges from contact with the hot fudge and topped with a fat dollop of cream and a crimson cherry. Mrs. Cake walked over and offered a sundae to each of the crusaders. Scootaloo got to pick first, so she chose the one with the most hot fudge; she loved hot fudge.

"So what do you girls have planned for today?" Mrs. Cake asked once each crusader had her treat.

"We're going to crusade for our cutie marks!" Apple Bloom announced proudly. She enthusiastically slurped up ice cream through her straw until her eye started to twitch and her teeth clenched shut. "Ah, brain freeze, brain freeze!"

Mrs. Cake chuckled softly. "I should have figured." She began to leave when a clatter of banging pots and pans and the tapping of clambering hooves came from the kitchen.

"We've got a perimeter breach!" shouted the voice of Mr. Cake. "Pound has broken out of the crib again, catch him honeybun!" A white and brown foal came flying out over the double door from the kitchen. The baby pegasus flew crookedly around the Sugarcube Corner front room in the manner of a fly maddened by the flame. Mrs. Cake ran around the room trying to catch him, but he always eluded her grasp by just a fraction of space. Finally, Pound crashed into the Cutie Mark Crusader's table, sliding across its top and sending Scootaloo's sundae hurtling to the floor. Scootaloo's reflexes were too quick however. She caught the baby with one hoof and the falling sundae with the other before either hit the ground. Pound Cake waved his forelegs and gurgled happily in Scootaloo's grasp.

"That was awesome!" Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom said in unison. That made Scootaloo smile a little.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry about that," Mrs. Cake clucked, using her teeth to take Pound by the scruff of his neck and placing him on her back next to the empty snack tray. "The sundae will be on the house of course." Scootaloo carefully edged the tall sundae glass from where it perched precariously on her hoof back on the table, careful not to spill one drop.

"I still don't understand how he's able to do that," Scootaloo said. She flicked at one of her own wings before taking a sulky drink from her saved ice cream.

"What, fly?" Mrs. Cake asked. "You must not have any younger brothers or sisters dear, or else you'd know that there's a stage in a baby pegasus' life where his wings are more developed than the rest of him and he's able to fly for a while. I'm sure there was a time when you terrorized your parents with your wings when you were a foal, crashing into all their fragile valuables, knocking over their antique furniture. Of course, your parents are pegasi themselves, so they didn't have the added trouble of having to pace in terror around a tree or building where their baby has perched."

"My sister says the same thing happens with a baby unicorn's magic," Sweetie Belle added between sips of sundae.

"Oh yes, I'm well aware of that particular set of challenges as well." Mrs. Cake said. "Still I'd take dealing with a baby unicorn over a pegasus any day. Much less running around." She put on a smile that seemed just a little too tight. "Luckily this stage only lasts a few weeks, not that I'm counting."

Scootaloo stared thoughtfully at her reflection in the bright red cherry perched atop her sundae. "Mrs. Cake, what are you going to do when Pound Cake needs to relearn how to fly?"

The matronly blue earth pony sighed, glancing at the baby pegasus waving happily from atop her back. "Mr. Cake and I have been thinking about that a lot. We can hardly afford to hire somepony to be Pound's personal trainer, and if when he turns ten years old the flight examiners deem him to be unable to receive sufficient training here, they'll take him away to Cloudsdale for the years it takes him to learn. Kind of makes me wish he wouldn't lose the ability at all, no matter how much of the good china he breaks. But at least that's not for a good couple of years yet," Mrs. Cake apologized again before returning to the sweetshop's kitchen.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle began to plan the escapades for the day, but the normally vocal Scootaloo remained quiet. She didn't even eat her sundae, she just kept staring at her reflection in the bright red cherry. The frown she saw reflected back at her grew progressively deeper, and the nervous sick feeling she felt at Ponyville elementary was starting to come back.

"Hey Scootaloo, what happened to all those cool ideas you wanted to tell us? Apple Bloom asked. Scootaloo looked up to see Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle staring at her. Creases of worry were beginning to form across their young brows.

Scootaloo popped off her seat and slipped on her school saddlebags. "Actually, I just remembered that I'm supposed to go home early today. Parents needed me for something. I'll see you two tomorrow."

"Aren't you going to at least finish your sundae?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Not hungry."

When Scootaloo was outside of Sugarcube Corner and sure her friends couldn't see her anymore, she began to run, her little orange wings catching in the breeze.


End file.
